Guiding line painted as HealthPlus Crim Festival of Races nears in Flint

FLINT, MI -- Several thousand runners have seen the blue line before as they maneuvered the 10-mile course across the City of Flint.

"I almost got sprayed," said Deborah Overweg, of Flushing, as she ran the winding path Sunday, Aug. 10, a little less than two weeks ahead of the 2014 HealthPlus Crim Festival of Races. "It does make you a little more excited."

The Aug. 23 event will be her 31st time running the event which has become her main race during the year, and she provided a little advice to first-time Crim runners.

"They're always told about the Bradley Hills," said Overweg, who enjoys the views of the city afforded to runners during the race. "But the last half of the course is one hill after another."

For Fenton resident William Davis it will be the first time the 52,800-foot line will be under his feet as her participates in his inaugural Crim event.

A self-professed track athlete in high school, Davis said he packed on the pounds after becoming a short-haul truck driver, tipping the scales at nearly 300 pounds just two years ago.

He bettered his diet, got on a training program and has since dropped more than 100 pounds. A trail runner, Davis said he was convinced by wife Marie Davis to give the Flint course a shot.

"I'm a trail runner, so I've experienced hills," he said, noting the event is not so much about the race but the experience and a sense of accomplishment shared with thousands of others.

"It's the people coming together. It's the people, everybody getting together to have fun," said Davis. "It doesn't matter if you finish dead last or first. It's that you committed yourself and achieved it. Some people don't even get off the couch."

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